He didn’t have much clout at this carnival but it was best to keep himself relatively unremarkable. If he wanted to hunt his prey he needed to be be stealthy. So he did as much as any person did there, helping to clean and maintain the grounds as much as possible. Today he’d been tasked to pick up the animal dung in spots between cafes where the animals had been unable to control themselves. It was a disgusting job but he couldn’t say it was the dirtiest job he’d ever done.
Sadly it did fray his nerves when all the animals wouldn’t stop their incessant noise, usually when Marty was around. Must have sensed something off about him. As he finally finished his work he found a chair just outside, the cool night air feeling good on his overworked body, and lit a cigarette.
The night was still early for Edward, he had left the wagon he shared with Eva for a walk, sometimes he'd get lucky and there would be some drunk just outside of the carnival limits that he could steal a pint from. Those under the influence rarely put up a fight. It turned out to be a rather lucky night, some vagabond had passed out a few hundred yards from the boundary and he helped himself to a pint of their blood which quickly spread through his body making him feel warm, for now at least.
Satisfied with his snack he continued, his walk now around the grounds of Zion, seeing if anything was amiss while most people had turned in for the night. He noticed the glow of a cigarette ahead, someone was sitting in the shadows enjoying a vice. "Evening." He said as he got closer.
Without much light Marty was barely visible in the night time, but the smell of the vampire hit his nose before anything else. A chuckle came from his lips as he eyed the vampire in his outdated (even for the 1920’s) garb. “You know mate, just cause you were killed in a time when everyone looked like wankers, don’t mean you still have to dress like one.” It was a tease really but with all the popularity that had become of them in the last fifty years he’d grown awfully tired of the cliché.
He stood and extended a hand out, knowing the one he’d take would be cold and dead. He supposed he was almost the same, just didn’t need to drink blood and stay out of the sunlight. “Names Marty. Now don’t get me wrong, from what I can tell you look better without any clothes.” It was his usual introduction if the other person was attractive enough.
He had planned to just keep walking, until the man had made the comment about his clothing and knew that he was a vampire. It did get a roll of his eyes though, he'd rather dress like this than what modern men seemed to wear.
Edward watched as the man stood and walked closer, hand outstretched. As soon as he said his name Edward knew immediately that this had to be the 'Marty' that Kerr had told him about. Cautiously he shook Marty's hand, the flirt obvious as daylight. "Edward." He said. "A gentleman doesn't divulge those kinds of things."
“Edward. Well Eddie when you’ve been ‘undead’ for a while,” He used large air quotations as their hands parted. “You tend to lose all sorts of manners and really just your dignity. Suppose it hasn’t been long enough for you yet but it’ll come. I promise.” He offered the vampire a wink and a friendly pat on the back. It wasn’t that he didn’t think about the words he said anymore, he just really didn’t mind how they came out.
“So what is a ‘gentleman’ doing wandering around the grounds in the middle of the night all alone? Searching for dinner?” It was a vampire cliche but he was sure he was right so he didn’t mind playing into fraying Edwards nerves.
“Vampires lose their humanity, not their dignity.” Edward stated, what would be the allure of a nightwalker who didn’t have any dignity, they’d be nothing more than a human. He was also not stupid and had already picked up that Marty was some kind of demon the darkness around him a giveaway, he had read just about every kind of book he could find on other ‘beings’ as soon as they had been accepted in to Zion, learning about who else was out there.
He tried his best to keep his eyes from rolling, it was cliche and something he had heard hundreds of times already. “At this time of night I prefer to think of it more as breakfast… why? Are you offering yourself up?” Although he had never tasted demon blood before he expected it didn’t taste very nice and that any effects that the bite had on most people wouldn’t work.
Marty chuckled and raised a brow in response. “While the offer is rather tempting you don’t want the years of drug abuse that flows through these veins, nevermind it’s corruption.” Not that the drugs were still in his system. He looked over at the vampire again. Kerr had mentioned that an Edward was teaching her to read but he could see the way she blushed as she spoke about him. Something was unsaid there, something she wasn’t even willing to admit to herself.
“You know Kerr, do you? Says you’ve been helping with the reading.” He finally said, wondering when the vampire would say something. He knew she was keeping him a secret so it would only make sense that he knew.
Edward smirked a bit at Marty’s rebuttal. “I will take your word for it, although I did survive on the meager offerings of dying soldiers for longer than I care to remember.” Although he still felt like he was doing those dying men a favor, ending their suffering and letting them go with a feeling of euphoria instead of screaming in pain.
His hands went into his pockets as he was asked about Kerr. “I have. She deserves to have the gift of literacy that many of us take for granted.” He wasn’t going to mention anything else, that was something kept between the two of them.
“Deserves a good shag if you ask me. But yeah readings important I suppose.” He let out a mean spirited chuckle and tossed his finished cigarette to the ground for some janitor to pick up later. Truth be told it would probably be him anyway.
He playfully laid a hand on Edwards shoulder, knowing how much it probably made the vampire uncomfortable. “You the only vampire round here? Thought I could smell the stench of at least one more.”
Thankfully Edward had self-control and reminded himself that demons were generally assholes, if Marty had been human and not part of the carnival then Edward would have no hesitation killing him with enjoyment. What Kerr saw in this creature Edward wasn't entirely sure, to each their own.
When the hand rested on his shoulder he wanted to shrug it off but he didn't. "No, I am not. Though I don't think they'll be as… civil to you as I am." He was sure that Eva would want to kill him as well.
Marty jumped back dramatically with a gasp, placing his hand over his mouth. “Oh no don’t hurt me mr. scary vampire.” And with that he chuckled and resumed a more relaxed stance. He leaned over as if trying to look in directly in his eyes. “But you can’t, can you?” He stood straight again and twirled his finger in the air. “We’re all protected here by magic.”
It was a good thing Marty knew how to hurt people using their own emotions against them. People were fragile bags of meat and it wasn’t hard to cause chaos when the world was holding on by a thread. Another sinister chuckle escaped his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t worry about Kerr, I’ll take good care of her.” He added with a wink.
Edward did roll his eyes, not caring if the demon saw it or not, why he was still maintaining a conversation was beyond him, other than to try and figure the man out solely for Kerr’s sake. He did care for Kerr in his own way. “It’s not me you’d have to worry about.” Someone like this - who made it his pastime of rubbing people the wrong way - would meet someone with less self control and larger fists than he had, oath to Kristoph or not.
His face remained emotionless even though he wanted to punch Marty in his smartass face, enough time had been wasted on this creature and he wasn’t really in the mood to listen anymore. “She’ll see through your charade sooner or later, she might be naive but she isn’t stupid.” With that he turned his head and walked away.